Reconcile these statistics.
Mortgage applications were at 9 year low according to Mortgage Bankers Association. The survey is for the week of November 6th. Applications by home purchasers fell 11.7%. This is the lowest level since December 2000. The NAR reported a 5.9% increase in resales compared with the third quarter of 2008. How do we reconcile the fact that mortgage applications by home purchasers are down 11.7% yet resales are up? Substantial number of these sales may be cash sales, not involving applications for a mortgage. I don’t have information on the ratio of approved mortgages, but variations in approvals may have an impact on the statistics quoted above. This information is relevant to the tax appeal process. Often assessors so called distressed sales as non arm length transactions and do not include them in the figures used to calculate the ratio in their town. Such practices should be scrutinized especially in markets where short sales and foreclosures are an important factor in the market.
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